This invention relates generally to vacuum equipment, and, more particularly, to valves that are employed to seal vacuum chambers or modules so that they may be separated or reassembled while still under vacuum. There are a number of different valves available for the purpose of sealing a main vacuum chamber while a subsidiary chamber is removed. However, there is no provision to preserve the vacuum in both chambers.
In some applications of vacuum equipment, such as in electron beam lithography, there is frequently a need to be able to separate two vacuum chambers that are coupled together, and later to reassemble them, without breaking the vacuum of either chamber. The present invention satisfies this need.